Review: The Word Is…

May 22, 2014

Last Friday I went off on another adventure, this time to Cheltenham. On this occasion I met with Helen Rutland, the founder of The Word Is. I came across The Word Is while scanning the internet for Christian companies that didn’t follow the cheesy ‘socks-and-sandals’ stereotype. The Word Is stood out to me as a company that did just this, so I contacted Helen straight off about appearing on Counter-Cultural. Counter-Couture. Luckily for me, she got back in touch and we set up my trip to Cheltenham.

First a little bit about the lady herself. Helen Rutland worked within the London fashion scene until her 30s, designing for various companies including Topshop. At 30, she decided London was no longer the place for her so moved back home to Cheltenham. As she became more and more involved with her church, she also started up her own business. With two goals in mind, to rebrand the church outside and challenge the church inside, Helen started The Word Is with card designs and prints. Five years later and she moved into t-shirt and hoody designs. Incredibly, this has all been done out of her own home – a modern day cottage industry. On the day I turned up, the house was a factory as the Big Church Day Outwas only a week away, and it’s one of the biggest events that The Word Is attends.

I mentioned two of Helen’s goals for The Word Is. The first one, to rebrand the church outside, refers to her aim of changing the world’s idea that the church is fuddy-duddy and behind the times. ‘Socks-and-sandals’ sums up the world’s view of Christians pretty well. The second one, to challenge church inside, refers to Helen’s policy of being as ethical and sustainable as possible. Her clothing is all sourced from the same company who own their own factories and can trace the materials back to their source. So buying one of her t-shirts isn’t just a chance to start conversations with one of her slogans but also an opportunity to support the planet we are supposed to steward.

Bamboo is a new fabric on the scene but due to it’s fast-growing qualities highly-sustainable.And super comfy too!

Once the t-shirts arrive, Helen can begin to design and apply her slogans. It’s a long process to print and her slogans on the vinyl. Fortunately, computer programmes and devices makes this all a lot easier if still slow. When the printing and cutting is finished, the slogans are pressed out and are ready to be applied.

The laptop and printer/cutter in the heart of Helen’s house/factory.

The next stage, after the slogans have been made, is to apply them to the t-shirt in question. This is done using a heat press to melt the glue backing on to the t-shirt and pressing it down to ensure it stays put.

T-shirt and slogan just before it goes into the press. You pull the plastic off afterwards.

After all this, the t-shirts are ready to wear. Or be folded, packed and shipped to Helen’s next event or order.